


Le Garçon de la Lune

by SumiInk



Category: Magic Kaito, 名探偵コナン | Detective Conan | Case Closed
Genre: Gen, Hakuba and Conan working together, Heist, Mystery, Nakamori yells a lot, i tried to come up with a heist trick, try to find the culprit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-15
Updated: 2019-10-15
Packaged: 2020-12-16 18:29:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,791
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21040781
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SumiInk/pseuds/SumiInk
Summary: Congratulations to the century’s last Princess.On the night that the mother reveals her full face,I shall come to make her child disappear,Before she can weep once again.





	Le Garçon de la Lune

**Author's Note:**

> Hi, everyone! This is actually my first fic and the first time in a while that I've written something that isn't an essay for school. So constructive criticism is greatly appreciated. Enjoy!

_Congratulations to the century’s last Princess._

_On the night that the mother reveals her full face,_

_I shall come to make her child disappear,_

_Before she can weep once again._

* * *

Snake raised his glass up in a toast before he and his companion took a drink. It was a sweet rose wine imported from France. Not exactly Snake’s style, but it was fitting considering present company.

“I am a bit disappointed ,” Rose began, “I didn’t even get to take a shot at him myself before he was done in.” The assassin raised her wineglass in one hand and rested her chin on the other. Her bracelets clattered and the sound drifted across the nearly empty bar. The only other soul in the room let out a gruff scoff.

“You had your chance during the crystal mother heist,” Snake countered.

“Don’t tell me you aren’t disappointed that you couldn’t finish him off yourself.”

“_Tch_. As long as that nuisance is gone, I couldn’t care less who did it,” The hint of anger in his voice said otherwise, but that wasn’t important right now. “In any case, turn on the TV. I want to see the look on his fans’ faces when the bastard doesn’t show.”

Rose obliged, picking up the nearby remote from the counter and pointing it towards the old TV mounted in the corner of the room. A second later the picture fizzed to life, showing a live broadcast of the national news.

_“-less than a minute until Kaito Kid’s announced arrival time!_” The reporter said as he stood in front of a large Western style building. There was a crowd of camera crews and Task Force members waiting outside the location. Snake sat back to watch, a victorious smirk creeping onto his face.

The reporter started the countdown, “_Three_”

Snake took another sip from his wineglass.

“_Two_,”

After all, it was time to celebrate.

“_One_,”

After so many years…

“_Zero_,”

Kaito Kid was finally dead.

“_There he is; Kaito Kid as appeared!_”

_‘What!?’_

* * *

_Earlier that day…_

Kuroba Kaito sat cross-legged on a table in his dad’s secret workroom under the house. Though, by all intents and purposes, it was now Kaito’s hideout as he had inherited the mantle of Kaito Kid from his father. The thief was fiddling with his equipment that was currently strewn across the tabletop, making sure everything was in working order before that night’s heist. Cards, capsules, binoculars, and other miscellaneous props needed to be accounted for and properly adjusted before the thief made his way to the heist location. At the moment, Kaito was reloading his trusty card gun.

“I wouldn’t need some of this stuff if I could just use my hang glider to make my escape,” The boy grumbled under his breath. The device itself sat on a nearby counter, untouched and unusable in the current situation.

It was at this moment that Konosuke Jii entered the secret room and immediately noticed his ward’s sour mood. “Are the preparations coming along alright, bocchama?”

Kaito looked up, quickly replacing his scowl with a reassuring smile, “It’s fine. Just annoying that I only had a couple days to change my plans after what those men in black did.”

“If you are unprepared, you could just reschedule the heist,” Jii gave Kaito a worried look, earnest in his desire that the young man not take any unnecessary risks. If the boy got hurt or arrested, the old man would never forgive himself.

Kaito let out a short laugh, “Kaito Kid, showing up unprepared? Don’t underestimate me, Jii-chan!” He stood up with a start, turned, and fired that card gun in his hand at the billiard board on a far wall. His aim was true, a tough two of spades lodging itself into the center of the target. The enthusiasm and confidence sparkling in the young boy’s eyes was enough to ease Jii’s nerves. Almost. Worrying for the boy was the least he could so for the late Toichi-sama, after all.

The boy turned back to the old man, “You’ll still help me with the disguise, though, right?”

“Of course. And I must say, this is one of your best ones yet,” A hint of amusement sparkled in Jii’s eyes at the very thought of it.

* * *

Edogawa Conan let out a yawn. ‘_Why does Kid always have to have such late heists?_’ It was 11:05pm, and Kid’s heist would likely start within the hour. Not actually too late, but the fact that Shinichi was currently trapped in a seven-year-old body was not helping. Neither was the fact that said seven-year-old was not allowed to drink coffee.

He and Mouri Kogoro had just arrived at the scene: the Hyokeikon building at the National Tokyo Museum. It was different from the museum’s main building, smaller and Western in architectural style. Currently, its white walls and pilasters were lit up be accent lights. They also illuminated a banner that hung between the columns of the second-floor balcony and announced the museum’s current exhibition. Water from the last couple days of rain had yet to dry, reflecting even more light off of the ground. It seemed as if the building was glowing in the moonlight, almost like a special invitation to a certain moonlight magician. The heist would have to happen soon, however; clouds were starting to gather as a second storm threatened to cover the full moon’s face.

As Conan and Kogoro approached the building, Conan noted that a number of different news vans were hurriedly beginning to set up in front of the location. _‘Strange, I didn’t think that the police force was planning on announcing the heist to the public.’_ The heist note itself had been sent directly to Division Two and shown on the news last week, but Division Two had opted to keep their solution to the riddle a secret from the public in order to keep the heist location as unobstructed as possible. Of course, the reporters could have solved it themselves. But for all of them to arrive at relatively the same time so close to the start of the heist… _‘Someone must have leaked the solution, and recently.’_

At the foot of the building’s front steps, Kogoro was stopped by a nervous looking, overweight man in a suit. He must be the museum director who had asked Kogoro to come only an hour before. As the two talked, Conan’s gaze wandered to the building’s front door. There, two rows of Task Force members stood at attention, lining both sides of the path to the front door but not making an effort to block it from anyone coming in.

_‘A simple security check?’ _Even trying to deduce what the Force’s plan was, Conan couldn’t help but let out another loud yawn.

At the sound of Conan’s yawn, Mouri Kogoro threw a quick glance at the shrunken high school detective before returning his conversation with the museum’s director. Right, the director had the famous Sleeping Kogoro to come and capture Kid. And the only reason Conan was here was because he had sneaked into the car when Kogoro wasn’t looking. He almost regretted the decision, wishing he was back at the agency and sound asleep. Like Ran was. After all, he had to meet up with the Shounen Tantei-dan to walk to school the next morning.

_‘Another day reciting times tables. Ugh,’_

Conan was pulled from his thoughts as the museum director led Kogoro and him up the front stairs of the building, past the two green copper lions guarding each side of the staircase leading to the covered patio.

“Here at the Hyokeikan,” The director began as he led the detectives past the rows of guards, “We display temporary exhibits, often on loan from other museums around the world. The building is normally closed between exhibitions, be we are currently displaying a collection of antiques from Napoleon Bonaparte’s family, on loan from The Musée de l’Armée in France.” Sure enough, the octangular room that the detectives had just entered was littered with podiums and display cases showing off a number of lavish, early nineteenth century goods. From his vantage point, Conan could point out a few different objects, from rugs to urns to busts.

“Most of this stuff isn’t even jewelry. Why’d Kid choose this place?” Kogoro grumbled. The older detective had not even attempted to solve the heist notice, since he was simply invited there by the museum director.

Conan decided to use this as an opportunity to give an explanation, “’_Congratulations to the century’s last Princess_,’” he recited. The two men looked at him, one in nervous shock and the other in annoyance, “The Hyokeikan was built to honor the wedding between Crown Prince Yoshihito and Sadako Kujo. They got married in 1900, making Sadako Kujo the last princess of the nineteenth century. I, uh, learned about it in class!” Of course, Conan made sure to keep his voice childish during his explanation. That seemed to be enough to keep the two from asking any follow-up questions.

Conan looked around to get a layout of the building. It was symmetrical, with two floors. The room he had just entered was the central room, which had entrances to two more display rooms, one on each side. It seemed that none of the display rooms had windows. Straight ahead of the front entrance and across the central room was a short hallway that housed restrooms, an elevator, and a back entrance. Conan was sure there would be more guards outside of that door. There were also a handful of visitors roaming around the display rooms, despite the late hour.

“Ne, director-san, why is the museum open so late?” Conan asked in a high-pitched, totally innocent voice.

The man started, apparently not very good with children, “Why? Oh, since Kid scheduled his heist tonight, we decided to stay open later to allow guests to view the… _performance_.” At this he gave a wide but tight smile. Evidently, this had not been his idea.

“Ehh!? But that way he could just disguise as anyone and walk right in!” Kogoro complained.

“Rest assured, the situation is under control,” the director responded. He led them through the left display room then to a circular stairwell that housed an ornate staircase at the far-left side of the building. It had one flight of stairs that split off into two as it turned back towards the center of the building and the second-floor landing. It was safe to assume that an identical stairwell was on the far-right side of the building; there were two equally accessible ways to enter the second floor.

“AND I’M TELLING YOU THAT THERE’S NO WAY KID WON’T STEAL THE GEM WITH YOUR POOR EXCUSE FOR A SECURITY TEAM!”

Ah, yes, it wouldn’t be a Kid heist without inspector Nakamori Ginzo trying to blow out someone’s eardrums. Conan heard the man’s tirade before he reached the top of the stairs to find him yelling at a thin, foreign man near a pedestal in the center of the second floor’s central room. Even on this floor, there were a handful of guests and no Task Force guards to be seen. Although, one guest standing off to the side of the Inspector’s conversation (for lack of a better word) caught Conan’s attention.

“Ah, Hakuba-niichan!” The (other) teenaged detective looked up from a moment lost in thought, if his furrowed brow was any indication. He was dressed in a simple green dress shirt and tan slacks, no longer making a habit of wearing the Inverness cape and deerstalker iconic of his beloved Sherlock Holmes.

“Edogawa-kun. I didn’t expect to see you here tonight.”

“Were you thinking about the heist?” Conan asked, all innocence and curiosity. The fellow high school detective should be easier to get information from, as he was more willing to share his deductions with a child than many of the adults were.

“Well, yes, in a way, but…”

Conan tilted his head as Hakuba trailed off. That was a bit unusual for the normally well-spoken Sherlockian. The teen in question then seemed to resign himself before crouching down to speak quietly with Conan at the shorter boy’s eye-level, “You see, a classmate of mine went missing a couple of days ago and I was hoping to find him here.”

“Eh? Is he a Kaito Kid fan?”

The teen gave an amused smile, “He insists that he is Kid’s biggest fan. I have no doubt that he will make an appearance tonight.” With that, he stood up to direct his attention back to Nakamori, just in time for Kogoro to finally burst into the conversation.

“Hey! Are you gonna tell me the plan for tonight or what?”

“This idiot of a security director,” Nakamori loudly pointed toward the slim man, “has decided that there is no plan.”

The man being scrutinized cleared his throat and adjusted his glasses, “I am Franck D’Amboise, the representative from Le Musée de l’Armée and the one in charge of security tonight.” He had an obvious French accent but seemed to be fluent in Japanese. “I know security must seem light, but I have this exhibit’s best interests at heart.”

“Oh, and what exactly are these ‘best interests’?” Nakamori countered, a little too close to the other man’s face.

The lax security, the late open hours, the news vans out front, inviting the famous Sleeping Kogoro… _‘Oh, don’t tell me…’_

“Oi, don’t you care if the jewel is stolen?” Nakamori asked.

“Kaito Kid always returns stolen gems, correct?”

“Well, yeah, but-“

“Then the museum has no reason to worry about losing it’s property. And so, I ask that you lot enjoy the exhibit along with the rest of tonight’s guests.” With that, the man straightened his tie and walked toward the stairs, finished with the conversation. Nakamori grumbled under his breath as he sent a glare at the retreating back. Evidently, the foreign curator fully expected the gem to be stolen with plenty of news coverage detailing the event. A way to promote the exhibit’s international tour with little to no work on the representative’s behalf and no real risk of stolen property. Conan had run into a couple of other heists where the gems’ owners had a similar mindset. It was reckless, but not unheard of.

“Hey, brat,” Conan looked up at Kogoro in response, “The inspector and I are gonna go check with the guards out front. Go look at the exhibit or whatever and don’t get in the way.”

“Okaaaayyy!”

After the two men left, Hakuba knelt down by Conan again to talk, “Evidently, the easiest way for Kid to get to the jewel will be for him to sneak in disguised as a visitor.”

“Yeah…” The shrunken detective’s pensive answer was a sign of him being already deep in thought.

“So, shall we start interrogating our fellow guests?”

“Yeah!” Conan gave a bright smile to match his suddenly childish response. “But first, I want to get a look at the gem!” He ran up to the podium in the center of the room… then stopped as he looked up at the four-foot-tall white block towering over his head. The red rope set up around the podium did not allow him to get too close, even if he couldn’t have seen over the edge anyway. Standing on his tip-toes and circling the offending display proved to be a futile effort. _‘Damn these short legs…’_

Two strong arms hoisted Conan up by the armpits so that he could see the gem on top of the podium. He twisted around to see who had helped him.

“There you go, kid, that better?” The man in his thirties with sun-tanned skin and closed-cropped hair said good naturedly.

“Excuse me, but who might you be?” Hakuba politely intervened.

“Ah, the name’s Hara Basho. I’m a fan of mysteries and came here ‘cuz I solved Kid’s riddle. This kid though,” he held Conan up a little higher, “seemed curious so I just wanted to give him a hand.”

Conan took the conversation between the two taller men as a chance to look over the gem itself. It was a white diamond, with an unusual cut that left it with evenly sized facets on all sides, making it almost spherical. It almost looked like a small moon shining under the room’s lights. Conan had read up on this particular jewel during the car ride to the museum- it was called _L’Enfant de la Lune_, or ‘The Moon’s Child’. Clearly, it was the “child” referred to in Kid’s notice. It had once belonged to Joséphine de Beauharnais, Napoleon’s first wife and life-long lover. After her death, the gem had changed hands many times among French nobility before being donated to the French museum only two months ago. It was being showed around the world before it would be permanently housed in France.

The targeted diamond rested on a limp, gold colored pillow that was large enough to peek over the edges of the podium just a bit. Each corner of the pillow had a bunched tassel that hung down from it and weighed down the corners. There was no glass or acrylic covering the gem. _‘Oi, they must really want this to be stolen,’_ Conan thought exasperatedly.

“All done, kid?” Hara asked.

“Huh? Yeah!” Conan was brought back down to his feet.

“Sir,” Hakuba began, “I can’t help but notice that you came here alone. May I ask why?” Conan had noticed that too. The guests currently on this floor were the lone man, a young couple, an old man with who appeared to be his young grandson, and the two high school detectives themselves. It was strange for someone to come to a museum without any friends or family.

The man let out a good-natured laugh at the questioning, responding with, “Oh, well, I planned to come with my girlfriend, but she bailed on me at the last second. Said it was too late and she didn’t want to lose too much sleep before work tomorrow.”

“But you still came without her?” Conan asked brightly.

“Of course! I put a lot of work into solving that riddle, so I just had to come!”

“I see. Well, thank you for your time.” Hakuba nodded before the detectives left the man. “So, Edogawa-kun, which group do you want to talk to ne-ack!”

_Bonk!_

That was the sound of a blue balloon smacking Hakuba in the face.

“Ah! Sorry, Ojisan!” A young voice said.

“O-ojisan?” Hakuba’s attempt to compose himself had been interrupted by the boy currently trying to reign in the afore-mentioned balloon. He was about Conan’s apparent age, with tussled, dark hair and the balloon’s string wrapped many times around his left hand. He seemed to have a genuinely apologetic look on his face.

“This is Hakuba-niichan,” Conan decided to intervene, “a high school detective.” Hopefully moving the conversation forward would save the taller teen from any more embarrassment. “And I’m Edogawa Conan, a detective.” Hakuba didn’t comment on the distinction.

The kid leaned forward to give Conan a wide-eyed stare. “You’re not here to try and catch Kid-sama are you?”

“We are!” Conan said proudly, “I am the Kid Killer, after all.”

At the other boy’s dismayed sound, an old man came over to stand beside him. He wore glasses and had grey hair around the bald spot that showed off most of his scalp.

“I’m sorry about my grandson,” He said.

“No, it’s fine,” Hakuba assured him, “Though may I ask who you are?”

“Shiriashi Takashi. And this is my grandson, Shiraishi Kazuki.” The man gestured at the boy who promptly gave a large smile in greeting.

“Ne, Shiriashi-ojisan,” Conan asked, “isn’t it kind of late to be bringing a kid to a museum?”

Said kid gave Conan a half-lidded glare, “Look who’s talking.”

The grandfather chuckled before answering, “Well, Kazuki-kun was very excited to come and see the Kaito Kid heist, so his parents let me bring him here past his bedtime.”

“So, was it Kazuki-kun who solved the heist note?” Hakuba asked.

The old man quickly shook his head, “No, no, I was the one who did that.” He seemed insistent. Conan supposed it was reasonable; not many seven-year-olds were up to the task of solving a riddle requiring knowledge of Japan’s emperors, French antique exhibitions, and weather forecasts. Speaking of which…

“Hakuba-niichan!” Conan turned to the teen, “How much longer until Kid shows up?”

Hakuba brought out both his pocket watch and his phone, checking the time as well as the weather app. “Assuming the forecast is correct, it should start raining shortly after midnight. We have precisely thirty-seven minutes, sixteen seconds, and four milliseconds until midnight.” The notice’s last line, _‘Before she can weep once again_,’ gave the time of the heist: when the previous days’ rain continued as a second storm blew in. Not the most precise time, but Kid would certainly be prepared when the rain starts to fall.

“Wow, so we don’t have long to wait before Kid-sama shows up!” Kazuki held his hands up in excitement, letting the balloon go in the process. As most of the string was still wrapped around the boy’s hand, it trailed after him as he ran closer towards the night’s target. The grandfather gave a polite good-bye to the two detectives before following to ensure his grandson did not get too close to the pedestal. As luck would have it, he was too late—the boy had already run under the red rope partition and was quickly circling around the pedestal while on tiptoe, much like what Conan had tried before. Thankfully, the grandfather quickly intervened and the boy was brought back to a respectable distance from the gem.

Conan’s eyes followed the balloon until he noticed the ceiling of the central room. Above him, the drum supporting the dome was surrounded by large windows. That would give the thief a number of escape routes directly to the roof. Conan was also intrigued by the detail carved into the dome. Eight decorative emblems each sat in the dome’s shallow coffers and pointed toward carved details surrounding a stained glass oculus. With warm accent lights illuminating the half sphere from inside, it almost looked like it was made of gold.

“Shall we interview the next group?” Hakuba brought the small detective out of his musing, gesturing toward the young couple that were making their way to the balcony on the front side of the building.

“Okay!” Conan led the way, running through the balcony’s glass door before it could close. The balcony was directly above the patio, so it was the same size. A short wall acted as a railing and supported two Ionic columns that in turn supported the roof above. Between the two columns and occupying a third of the view was the banner proclaiming the current exhibit. Conan’s observations were interrupted by the sound of Nakamori’s voice from below.

“YOU CAN’T CROWD THE MUSEUM RIGHT BEFORE THE HEIST!” The Inspector was yelling at a small crowd of camera crews and reporters as Task Force members blocked them from the entrance. He had apparently decided to go against the French representative’s requests. As the shouting match drew on, Conan could spot other people coming to gather in front of the museum. Some Kid fans had seen the news reports and were here to see the show in person.

“Geez, can’t that guy shut up for two seconds?” The young man, in his twenties and wearing a black raincoat, grumbled as he looked over the edge of the balcony. The woman beside him, presumably his girlfriend, had long brown hair and wore an olive coat.

“But mister, don’t you want the police to catch Kid?” Conan pouted up at the man.

He seemed caught off guard by Conan’s sudden comment, but responded anyways, “W-well. To be honest I couldn’t care less what happens that guy. He’s got nothin’ to do with me.”

“Don’t say that!” The woman pouted even more than Conan and clung onto her boyfriend’s arm, “If Kid-sama gets arrested, we can’t see any more of his magic shows!”

“Are you two fans of Kaito Kid?” Hakuba said from behind them.

“Oh, huge fans~!” The woman seemed to brighten at the mere suggestion before quickly turning back to her boyfriend with her previous pout, “At least, I am.”

“H-hey, I still come to the heists with you.”

“Right! Because you’re such a_ sweetie_~!”

Hakuba let out a polite cough, “Yes, well, may I ask your names?”

“What for?” The man’s sour mood toward Nakamori apparently extended to others as well.

“Hakuba-niichan and I are detectives, so we’re interviewing all the visitors!” Conan interjected cheerfully before an argument could break out. The woman kneeled to talk to the apparent child.

“Well, little detective, my name is Chiho and this sourpuss,” she sent a mischievous glance toward the man in question, “is Eishi. We usually come to Kid’s shows whenever we can, so I solved the notice and here we are!”

“Wow, Chiho-neechan, you must be really smart!”

“Regardless of that, Edogawa-kun, we should probably get going,” Hakuba interrupted, “It seems that we are about to have a lot more guests to interview.”

Sure enough, when Conan looked over the side of the balcony, he could see that the newcomers were starting to trickle into the entrance. Nakamori was off to the side, brooding as the French representative and museum director both tried to scold the man. They would be getting their wish of a crowded exhibit.

The two teen detectives made their way downstairs, continuing their attempt to discover who Kid was before the heist could start.

* * *

As midnight came around, the second floor of the museum became packed with visitors and reporters alike. Conan and Hakuba had tried to interact with as many as possible, but no detective had a clue as to who was the Kid in disguise. The two were now standing near the back of the room, near the elevator, hoping to catch the thief as he made his rooftop escape. Nakamori and Kogoro stood to either side of The Moon’s Child, since they were the closest thing to guards who were allowed in the building. The crowd around them murmured in excitement, filling the space with constant noise.

Conan stared through the crowd of legs between him and the pedestal, attempting to catch glimpses of it from his vantage point. It was a lost cause. Instead of that, he started thinking over all the people who he had met before. Most were Kid fans who had seen the heist location and time on the news before rushing over to the museum. They would only be here for a few minutes before the appointed time, and it wasn’t even guaranteed that they would be here soon enough to get a spot in the crowded second floor. The Task Force had been outside surrounding the building for hours, so there were no chance he could hide on the roof and enter from there…

“Edogawa-kun, are you thinking what I’m thinking?” Hakuba gave the short detective a questioning glance.

“Most likely. Kid wouldn’t have come just minutes before the heist. He would have come earlier, to set up his trick and check out the security.” All childish pretenses were dropped as he gave his deduction. “Kid also knew the heist time and location before it was announced to the public, of course, so he likely came before the rush of people. Which means…”

“He is disguised as one of the people who were in the building before Nakamori let the camera crews in.” Hakuba finished.

At that moment, the lights to the room went out. The usual sound of shocked screams was intermixed with more excited shouts.

“_Ladies and gentlemen_,” The voice rang out over the crowd, drawing everyone’s attention. In a brief moment of silence that followed, Conan could hear the patter of rain on the roof. “_Welcome to tonight’s illusion!_”

From outside, Nakamori’s Task Force responded to the blackout by aiming flood lights at the closest thing to a window in the room: the balcony’s glass door. From there, Kaito Kid’s silhouette could be seen sanding on the center of the half-wall, backlight by the light passing through the exhibition’s banner. He had one hand in his pocket and one pulling down his top hat, a motionless picture of calm and confidence.

“KID!” Nakamori’s angry shout rang out as he made a mad dash for the figure. Most guests backed away from the man’s path-- some less wise ones were shoved. Conan attempted to follow, dodging through a forest of legs.

“_Sorry, Inspector, but I can’t stay long_,”

_Shink_ _Ziiiiip _THUMP__

_His card gun?’ _

_Shink Ziiiiip THUMP _

Despite the sound of the iconic firearm, the figure had not raised his arm. He did, however, immediately dodge the incoming Inspector by shooting upwards and onto the roof. At the same time as the two shots, there were several pops as a thick cloud of gold confetti was launched into the air. The crowd awed appropriately. The air was filled with sparkling light as the floodlights illuminated the mass of reflective paper. It was a pretty sight… that also happened to provide an excellent distraction.

“It’s gone!”

“The Moon’s Child!”

“Kid-sama did it!”

“Damn!” As the rest of the crowd gawked at the now empty pedestal, Conan cursed under his breath. He gave up on his chase toward the balcony and instead turned back to the back hallway; he would instead race to the roof and confront the thief there.

Upon climbing the roof access stairs and bursting into the rain Conan found Hakuba, kneeling by the dome and staring out over the rainy sky.

“Where is he?” Conan demanded.

“He… hasn’t come.”

Suspicious, Conan ran over, jumped, and pinched the teen’s cheek, perhaps a bit too hard.

“Ow! Edogawa-kun, I’m not Kaito Kid.” He rubbed the new red spot on his face. If anything, the sudden assault brought the teen’s attention away from the sky. He continued, “I ran up here as soon as the lights went out. Kid never even arrived to make his escape.”

“Then he’s still in the building. Let’s tell the Inspector!”

* * *

Inspector Nakamori was told of Kid’s lack of escape and took to checking every guest for a disguise as they left. The museum director still insisted that the Task Force not enter the building, but that did not stop them from setting up a bag check right outside. Anyone who left had their belongings searched and their face pinched.

An hour later, neither Kid nor The Moon’s Child was found.

What was found, however, was a variety of tools used in Kid’s trick. Conan and Hakuba were looking over the objects on the floor of the now nearly empty second story display room. The pedestal still sat in the center, a lone block mocking their failure. The thief had even taken the gold cushion that the gem rested on. Even though the heist was over, a few guests were still lingering. Coincidentally, they included the mystery lover Hara Basho, the Shirarishi grandfather and grandson, and the young couple Chiho and Eishi.

“The confetti cannons are to be expected, but this seems a tad convoluted,” Hakuba held up the waterlogged banner that had previously been displayed in front of the balcony. It was found on the roof after the commotion of the heist and the short rain shower. Upon closer inspection, the material had been altered. It was made of three pieces: the decorative front, the blank back, and a Kid-shaped piece of thick vinyl hidden between the two.

“Light passed through the fabric but not the vinyl, so it looked like Kid was on the balcony and backlit by the flood light,” Conan explained matter-of-factly. They had also found strings on the banner, one connected to a weight and the other severed. “When Kid cut the string holding the banner in place, the weight brought it up onto the roof. A pully system.” Not unlike the one used in his teleportation trick.

“Yes, I gathered that, but I have to wonder why,” Hakuba contemplated.

“It was so he could hide in the crowd and steal The Moon’s Child while Nakamori chased the fake. Obviously.”

“Still… don’t you find it strange that Kid hasn’t shown himself, even to escape? He is usually quite… flashy, but he has not truly shown himself at all during this heist.”

That _was_ unusual for the normally flamboyant magician. Conan let out a huff and laid back on the cold floor, looking up at the inside of the dome. He would probably get some of the discarded confetti in his hair, but everyone thought he was seven so he figured he could get away with being a little messy.

Gold… _‘Why had Kid chosen that color? Silver would have fit the ‘moon’ theme better.’ _The missing cushion was also gold. So was the dome that Conan gazed up at. The intricate carvings were still there.

But they were slightly different.

_‘A pulley system propelling an object upward…’ _During Kid’s appearance, there had been two shots from his card gun, presumably to cut the strings attached to the weights, but only one weight was found. So there must be another one still attached somewhere…

Conan sat up and looked over the room. Where could someone hide the weight and the string it was attached to? It must be in the room, if the gem was currently suspended where Conan suspected. There was nothing unusual on the ground, except for the confetti, but that was not heavy enough to lift the gem. The treasure hunter Haro Basho was walking around the room, examining the walls. The Shiraishi grandfather and grandson lingered near the empty pedestal, Kazuki still holding onto his balloon as it floated above his head. Chiho and Eishi had wondered to one of the adjacent rooms, taking interest in the exhibit’s other antiques.

“Hey, Hakuba,”

The teen detective looked over at Conan, too focused to worry about the sudden drop of honorific.

“How many weights did we find?”

“Just the one connected to the banner. Why?”

“Did you ever find that classmate you were looking for?”

Hakuba was taken aback by the sudden change in topic but played along with the intelligent child’s questioning. He gave a resigned sigh before responding, “No. I even asked Inspector Nakamori. He wasn’t one of the guests leaving the museum either.”

Conan stood up and brushed himself off, “What do you say we try finding Kid’s disguise again? We’re down to only five suspects.”

“Four.” Hakuba countered, “Shiraishi Kazuki is much too young to be Kid.”

“Hey!” Nakamori entered the room then, gathering the attention of everyone there. He was followed by Mouri, the museum director, and Mr. D’Ambroise. The Inspector continued his announcements to the room, “You all are the only ones who haven’t gone through security and my men aren’t going to wait all night!”

“Sheesh, old man, we have a right to stay as long as we want,” Eishi spit back as he and Chiho walked into the center room at the sound of the Inspector’s voice. Nakamori fumed.

“It’s true,” D’Amboise said, “I will allow guests in this exhibit for as long as they like. Or need.” The museum director did not look happy about that but remained silent so as not to displease the foreign representative.

“Well I’m ready to go home!” Nakamori then walked up to the nearest guest, Hara Basho, and pinched the man’s face, hard, before he could react.

The man let out a light hiss of pain then a forced laugh, “Well, I guess I deserve that for trying to stick around so long. And I still haven’t even figured out Kid’s trick…”

Nakamori’s next victim was the young couple, with Eishi putting up a short but fruitless attempt to dodge and Chiho being much more willing.

“If it means I can stay until Kid-sama shows up again, it’s no problem~!” she had stated.

That’s three out of five confirmed to be innocent. Next was…

Nakamori moved on to Shiraishi Takashi and pinched the elderly man’s nose. He did not protest but seemed off put by the rude gesture.

“That is everyone in that has entered the building,” Hakuba stated, “Kaito Kid must have already made his escape,”

“_Correct, my dear detective,”_ Kid’s voice sounded across the room, the same way that it did before, _“Now that our childish game is over, I will finally take my leave. Until next time!”_

“He couldn’t have brought his hang glider while in disguise!” Conan explained quickly. With no roof escape and no windows, that left only the first-floor entrances.

“AFTER HIM!” Nakamori led the charge toward the left stairwell. The other adults in the room followed, all of them interested in seeing the thief again, though with different kinds of enthusiasm. Conan joined them as well.

* * *

Kaito smirked. All he had to do was broadcast that short message on the speakers hidden in the ceiling and everyone in the room went running. Jii would join up with him again later. Now that he was alone, the thief let of the nearly invisible string in his hands, looked up at the golden package suspended and hidden in the dome. It fell into his hands, the limp cushion unfurling to reveal The Moon’s Child. All he had to do was wrap a slip knot around the pedestal, set up the pully, and let gravity do the rest. The string had snagged the four corners of the cushion and created a perfectly camouflaged package for the gem as it soared through the confetti-filled air. In the crowded room, he collected the weight that had pulled the gem up then held onto the string in its place. No one noticed it next to the other string leading up towards the ceiling.

He walked over to the balcony, holding up the stone to the moon. As long as he didn’t get to close to the edge, there was no worry of the Task Force seeing his outstretched arm. The full moon poked out from scattered rain clouds and its light fit perfectly behind the spherical gem. The Moon’s Child shone white as if it were another celestial body but gave off no other colors. No red light of Pandora. The thief brought the gem back down, looking down at it with a bit of disappointment.

“Kid,” He recognized the shrunken detective’s voice and turned around, lifting his chin to look the detective in the eye.

“Meitantei! I’m glad you could come to see my performance. Though I’m a bit disappointed that you didn’t see past my disguise,” At this, Kaito peeled the mask off, revealing a face that looked strikingly similar to Conan’s. There was no wig, though. All he needed was a mask to throw off the detective’s suspicions, since he was only one who knew of their resemblance. Now, they practically looked like twins as they stood facing one another across the empty room. The only difference was the hairstyle and the glasses.

“It took a while, but I did figure it out.” Conan went on, “The reason you couldn’t escape by hang glider or even make a real appearance. Though I have to say… the name Kaito _Kid_ is a lot more fitting now.”

Kid gave a big smile, exactly like the one he wore while disguised as Shiraishi Kazuki. “Only you would be able to figure out that Kaito Kid had shrunk!”

“And you know I can’t tell Nakamori without outing myself as Kudo Shinichi,” He responded sourly.

“It’s the perfect disguise!”

The detective let out a sigh before changing to a more serious topic, “We need to talk about who did this to you. It was a couple of men in black, right?”

“No time, Meitantei,” Kid tossed The Moon’s Child toward Conan, making him stumble forward in a rush to grab it.

“I have to go before my assisstant starts to worry. _See you next illusion_,” With that the thief jumped up and over the balcony’s wall, making his escape.

Conan was confident that he had yet another trick set up to ease his fall. He looked down at the gem in his hands. Another returned jewel. _‘Why?’ _There were a lot of things that Kudo had to discuss with the thief, now that they seemed to be dealing with the same situation. Of course, first he would have to find the man (or boy, as the case may be). Time to start another investigation. And hopefully gain another ally.


End file.
